In Japanese, it’s being described as “Mongee” — the “incredible” banana. It looks just like any other banana, but it’s supposed to be softer and sweeter — and its peel is edible.

Even though they cost around US$6 each, the special bananas have had no trouble attracting customers to the one place in the country where they’re sold, the Tenmaya store in the southwestern city of Okayama.

The technique used by D&T Farm to create the Mongee banana is called “freeze-thaw awakening.” This method mimics the growing conditions of plants from the Ice Age some 20,000 years ago. The farmers first subject the saplings to freezing temperatures at -60 degrees Celsius. They are then taken out and allowed to thaw before replanting.

Japan is relatively cool and this could prevent bananas from growing, but for the freeze-thaw awakening, there is a change in temperature, which encourages the seedlings to grow a bit faster. The extreme temperature variation puts the banana’s growth into a sort of hyperspeed mode, so the peel doesn’t fully mature, leaving it with a texture like lettuce.

Taste-testers for the RocketNews24 site in Japan said the banana fruit itself — which has about 5 more grams of sugar per banana than the regular version — boasts a “very strong tropical flavor” akin to that of a pineapple. But the peel lacks any specific taste.

Although it’s said not to have a “strange texture” and is “fairly easy to eat,” the tasters added there “isn’t much flavor.” One experimenter said it was somewhat bitter, though not as much as the peels of regular bananas, which he also tasted.

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits in Japan. The country has long relied on imports from places like the Philippines, where the climate is better suited to growing the fruit. But D&T Farm is hoping to change that.

“Japan imports a million tons of bananas annually, but only makes less than 1 percent of its consumption,” CEO Tetsuya Tanaka said.

Tanaka said the company’s freezing formula could someday help address food shortages in the world by enabling farming in places known for cold, inhospitable temperatures like Siberia.